THE GOLDEN SPARROW ON SATURDAY JULY 16, 2016
PUNE
“We are not going to be at anyone’s mercy. Earlier, we were given MoS. We turned down the offer. We wanted a cabinet rank post. The Sena will not go to anyone’s doorstep.” - Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena chief BY ROMIL KOTHARI @romil_kothari The launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has not addressed the huge problem of garbage disposal. Government vehicles are dumping garbage freely and openly into the Mutha river,as the authorities claim to have run out of places to dump the garbage. Thereis a plot of land near the Mutha river,which has been a garbage dumping ground for the residentsof Shivane and Nanded villages. With the scanty rainfall in the past few years, the banks of the river remained dry. But the plentiful rains this year haveresulted in the river overflowing its banks. As a result, this plot of land has become slushy. The Nanded village sarpanch has ordered that the garbage be dumped into the river. Rajat Kabade of Pune, who was driving to Nanded to meet a friend, happened to see the dumping of garbage into the river. He clicked pictures and posted them on social networking websites, and the pictures have grabbed attention of the public. TGS spoke to Nitin Ramdas Dugane, sarpanch of Nanded village about the issue. “We have no other place to dump the garbage. Our dumping ground has been rendered useless by the rain. So we dump it into the river. Our village is out of Pune Municipal Corporation limits. So we don’t get the facilities the other regions in the city get.
Nanded, Shivane garbage dumped into Mutha river
We have to manage on our own, and that’s what we have done. We do have a plan to set up our own plant and we have also raised funds for the same. But we don’t have the space,” Dugane said. Nanded has developed over time
and it now has some big housing complexes and high-rise buildings. It lies between Pune Municipal Corporation and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. ThoughNanded is close to Pune,
‘Gold man’ murdered for default of Rs 1.5 lakh Nine persons detained for bludgeoning Datta Phuge, famous for wearing Rs 2 crore gold shirt, to death BY YOGESH WAGH @YogeshWagh1857 Datta Phuge, 47, famous for wearing Rs 2 crore designed gold shirt and husband of former corporator Seema Phuge from Bhosari area, was bludgeoned to death with boulders and chopper by nine persons at Dighi around 11.30 pm on July 14 (Thursday). The Dighi Police have detained nine persons and state that the prime accused Atul Mohite of Dighi had killed Fuge as the latter owed him Rs 1.5 lakh. The FIR was lodged by the victim’s 21-year-old son Shubham. According to the FIR filed by Shubham, his father called around 10:30 pm asking him to come to Bharatmata Nagar in Dighi with eight biryanis packets and two cigarette packs. Shubham reached the spot in Hyundai i20 and saw his father being
Chinese media irked with US, Japan P 13
brutally attacked by Atul Mohite and his accomplices with sharp weapon and boulders. Mohite fled the spot after murdering Phuge and the complainant called his mother and relatives. Phuge was murdered at an open space at Bharatmata Nagar. The victim was hit on the back of his head with a sharp weapon and crushed to death with boulders barely half a km from Dighi Police Chowky. Phuge was a resident of Sheetal Park in Bhosari and ran Vakratund Chitfund and Shubham Finance. According to the police, Mohite came to know the victim through the chit fund business. Mohite had invited Fuge for a personal meet at a friend’s birthday party two days ago. The prime suspect had again called Phuge for the meeting on July 14. The victim’s wife Seema told police that four to five persons had
forcibly picked up Phuge from residence around 9 pm on Thursday. Shubham told the police that the suspects had attacked his father’s bodyguards in the past. The suspects detained by the police include Atul Mohite, Balli Pathare, Bala Walke, Prem Dholphode, Vishal Pakhre, Shailesh Walke, Babu Shelke, Prem Dholpore and two others who are nephews of Bala Walke. “Phuge owed Rs 1.5 lakh rupees to Mohite and the financial dispute led to his murder. We have seized sharp weapon from the spot. We have registered offence as per Sections 302 (murder), 143, 147, 148, 149 (rioting) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Arms Act 4 (25) of Bombay Police Act against the suspects,” a police official said. Phuge was called ‘gold man’ for designing 3.5 kg golden shirt from Ranka Jewellers in 2011. The golden shirt also entered the Guinness Book of World Records. It is alleged that he amassed large money of investors through chit fund business. His wife Seema Phuge is former NCP corporator in Pimpri-Chinchwad area but was disqualified for submitting false caste certificate. Phuge was eyeing for LS candidature from Shirur. yogesh.wagh@goldensparrow.com
the authorities are ignorant of the garbage dumping issue. Pune region Maharashtra Pollution Control BoardDeputy Regional Officer Devidas Koparkarsaid, “I will send sub-regional officers to do a survey of the spot. If it
Nations to widen probe: Panama Papers P 14 Villages around Mutha river have started emptying their garbage trucks in the river. They claim that since their dumping grounds are unusable, they have no option
comes to light that garbage dumping has been going on a large scale for a long time, we will take strict action against the concerned authorities.” Environmental activist Vivek Velankar said, “The collector and
RAHUL RAUT
contractor are responsible for the garbage dumping, as they fail to inform the higher authorities about the matter and continue to deal with the garbage in the most convenient way possible.” romil.kothari@goldensparrow.com
The cop who wants Gadchiroli tribals to prosper
Continued from p1 This resulted in as many as 95 Naxals from Gadchiroli district laying down their arms. To round up those who had not surrendered, Patil launched operations which resulted in the arrestsof 26 Naxals. To rehabilitate the Naxals,he started various schemes. He opened study rooms and libraries for tribal children in Gadchiroli district, and started Maharashtra tours for tribal youth, to bring them intothe mainstream. Patil personally guided and taught tribal students who were preparing for competitive examinations. Talking to TGS, Satara SP Sandip Patil said, “During my tenure as Gadchiroli SP,Director General of Police Pravin Dixit appealed to the police department to start libraries in remote areas. We started a library in the jungle of Gadchiroli,but as it was in a remote location far from the tribal villages,the tribal youth hesitated or feared comingto the police library. We therefore, shifted the library tothe tribal village of Burgi in Etapalli tehsil of Gadchiroli district.We assured the village youth that the library was for them, so that they could study there. We also offered the youthcareer guidance, and started counselling and teaching
the youth. Over time, the tribal youth started coming to the libraries to study regularly. We informed our seniors about the positive response to the library from tribal youth, who even wished to join the mainstream, and enrol in the police force. Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis visited the village Burgi library. Heartened by the positive response,the police department encouraged us to start more libraries in Gadchiroli district. When I left Gadchiroli, we had started 800 study centres. These study centresneed books in large numbers, which is why I appealed to the people
of Satara, while taking charge as Satara SP,notto give me flower bouquets, but to give books for the Gadchiroli study centres. We have received more than 3000 books from the citizens of Satara, and I am personally touched by the helpful nature and overwhelming response from the people of Satara. I have sent the 3000 books to the Gadchiroli study centres. Some people have also donated notebooks which we have sent to schools in Gadchiroli. More than 2000 notebooks have been sent to these schools in Gadchiroli.” tushar.rupanavar@goldensparrow.com
Cops’ wives block road over poor water supply
Residents say they have been receiving non-potable water for the past 15 days BY YOGESH WAGH @YogeshWagh1857
Shortage of drinking water supply left women of police personnel staying at Shivaji Nagar Police Line to block the traffic on the busy road in front of their colony for half an hour on July 15 (Friday) in protest. The Shivaji Nagar area near Modern College, including the police lines, has been facing severe water shortages for the past 15 days. “The supply for 30 minutes is so low that it is not even sufficient to fill half a drum,” said Sangeeta Jadhav, wife of a constable who lives at the police line. However, that is not the only problem. “The water supplied is non-potable, smells and has a bad taste. It even gets mossy if stored for long,” said Prafulla Lad, wife of another policeman. The women, along with several others in the neighbourhood, led
Due to acute scarcity of water residents of Shivajinagar police line are forced to store water in every pot and pan available. On Friday, wives of the law enforcers took matters in their hands and staged a protest
by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Corporator Raju Patil undertook a Rasta Roko Andolan. They formed human chains and blocked the road amidst heavy sloganeering. The Shivaji Nagar Police
Line, one of the oldest structures in the city and houses nearly 100 families, is a dilapidated building ignored by the Pune Municipal Corporation and police department. It is indeed ironic that wives
of policemen who are the up-keepers of law and order had to take matters in their own hand. “We have gone to the Police Headquarters a number of times with our grievances. However, they have done
nothing for us. So, we had to take to the streets,” said Rashmi Kadam, wife of a constable. The road protest that began around 10 am went on for 20 minutes. The protestors acquiesced only after the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) authorities assured of regular water supply in a couple of days.
PMC Water Department Head VG Kulkarni denied that the water situation was severe. “The water supply is not obstructed for the past 15 days. It is just a day’s issue. Day before yesterday, there had been some technical issues in the pipeline which we have solved,” he said. yogesh.wagh@goldensparrow.com